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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24980686">Hot peppers and bad decisions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BronzeDragon13/pseuds/BronzeDragon13'>BronzeDragon13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Humor, M/M, carolina reaper pepper, drunk decisions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:47:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24980686</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BronzeDragon13/pseuds/BronzeDragon13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Buck knows that it's a bad idea. Eddie and Chimney know that it's a bad idea. But, they didn't account for the fact that they'd be making these decisions while drinking. RIP to their tongues.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>120</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hot peppers and bad decisions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Buck should not be allowed to make any decisions when he drinks. See, at his baseline, Buck can be impulsive. Being labeled headstrong is something he’s carried since he was old enough to walk and it hasn’t mellowed out with age. Throw in a couple of alcoholic drinks and that’s it. There are two categories he can fall into when Buck decides to partake in some adult beverages: tipsy or drunk. Which are two very different things.</p>
<p>Tipsy Buck, while feeling the effects of the alcohol, does still have control over making some decisions. Minor decisions. Things that involve ordering food late at night, whether or not he can convince Eddie to stay on the couch to fall asleep to something cheesy on Netflix, or sending loads of random facts to whoever’s name pops up first on his phone. Tipsy Buck is more preferable, as he can be easily swayed, and is able to be controlled for the most part.</p>
<p>Drunk Buck is, to put it lightly, a hot mess. Impulsivity? If there was a scale, Buck broke it. Any choice is a good one, even if it is clearly obvious that it shouldn’t be made, and there isn’t a chance in hell of stopping him. Which has landed him in some unfavorable mornings; the confusing mornings when he was at college, or during his time in South America, waking up with no recollection of the previous night. One of his tattoos was a result, as was the time he and an old co-worker can their ear pierced.</p>
<p>Tonight, it’s leaning towards a tipsy sort of time.</p>
<p>They are at Chimney and Maddie’s place, an impromptu game night, spurred by all of them being too bored at home, but not wanting to go all the way and have to interact with random people. So, game night plus food and drinks. Eddie is sitting beside him, loose and smiling, curtesy of the three beers consumed over the course of the night. Buck, not that far behind him, is glad that they have an empty apartment to go back to later.</p>
<p>“I think we should play a game,” Chimney says.</p>
<p>“Like we haven’t been doing that all night,” Eddie grins at the unimpressed look Chimney shoots him and Buck laughs. It’s nice to see Eddie drop the stoic persona he normally carries around other people. Buck gets to see this version of Eddie more often, which is a plus, but sometimes he’s happy that others can see it besides him and Christopher.</p>
<p>“No, like a different game,” Chimney clarifies.</p>
<p>“Well, you better get creative,” Maddie tells him, sipping her wine, eyeing the almost empty glass in her hand. “We’ve played almost all the games in the apartment.”</p>
<p>“Give me a second,” Chimney gets up and walks over to the kitchen.</p>
<p>“Why do I feel like this is going to go wrong?” Eddie faux whispers into Buck’s ear, which makes him shiver, and Eddie smirks.</p>
<p>“I’m sure we can handle it. We’ve survived worse,” Buck isn’t too concerned; how bad could this game be?</p>
<p>Chimney returns and places down a container. It looks like one of those refrigerated ones, the kind you ship food in, and it’s tiny. Chimney opens up the lid and tilts it forward so that all of them can see what is inside. Resting on the bottom are multiple, tiny red peppers. They look innocent, almost like the kinds of peppers Buck would grab at the store, but then again, none of peppers he’s bought come with warning labels on the side stating: Handle with gloves. Avoid touching the eye region.</p>
<p>“These are Carolina Reaper peppers,” Chimney explains, a gleeful look creeping into his face, and Eddie perks up. “They are supposed to be the world’s hottest pepper. People do challenges with them all the time.”</p>
<p>“They can’t be that hot,” Eddie is already sitting up, eyes gleaming, and it doesn’t matter what the game is, Eddie will play it.</p>
<p>“You might be wrong,” Chimney argues.</p>
<p>“Chim, I’ve grown up with spice all my life, I think I can handle it.”</p>
<p>It’s a true statement. Abuela and Peppa like to make each dish full of flavor. Buck’s grown to love the spicy kick, having travelled a lot, and now he seeks it out when he cooks or goes out to eat. He still loves the savory dishes, but there’s a bigger part of him that likes to feel his mouth burn when he eats. Eddie enjoys it too, as does Christopher, who can’t handle the same amount but does prefer something with a little heat.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Maddie and Chimney are not like that. At all.</p>
<p>Maddie’s tastes are more geared towards simpler food, like a meat and potatoes blend, and Chimney can not handle spice. Hot Cheetos are the limit; once, Hen got him to try an Atomic Fireball candy. Chimney had lasted less than two minutes before he was spitting it out, only to complain for the next hour, leaving Hen laughing more and more each time Chimney moaned about his ruined tongue.</p>
<p>“Alright then, mister big shot,” Chimney counted out three peppers, grasping them by the stem, and laid them out on the table. “Let’s do this.”</p>
<p>“Wait, what?” Buck asked. Maddie laughed.</p>
<p>“We are going to eat these peppers. The last one standing wins.”</p>
<p>“What do we win?” Eddie had his game face on.</p>
<p>“Twenty bucks each? And if you go to use anything to cool your mouth down, you lose.”</p>
<p>“Why doesn’t Maddie have one?” Buck thought it was unfair that his sister was going to get to sit this one out.</p>
<p>“Because I said so,” Chimney and Maddie said at the same time.</p>
<p>“Do you really want your big sister to damage her tongue, Evan?” Maddie batted her eyes, playing up the poor, helpless act, and Buck rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>“Whatever. You have to put money in, even if Chimney doesn’t win, which he won’t.”</p>
<p>The peppers didn’t look that bad; sure, they were probably hotter than what he had tasted before, but it couldn’t be that bad, right? Money was taken out and placed down on the table. $100 bucks for the winner. Each person got a pepper. Buck thought it was divided up unfairly; Chimney insisted that they each get a pepper in ratio to their body size. Of course, since Buck was the tallest, he got the largest pepper, while Chimney got the short, stubby one. Maddie had her phone out, either to keep track of time or to take video, who knew, her face contorted into a wide grin.</p>
<p>The three of them took their peppers in hand, Maddie counting down from ten, and at the end they all bit down. They had agreed to bite down at the stem, and Buck quickly had a mouth full of the vegetable.</p>
<p>At first, it wasn’t terrible.</p>
<p>That first bite was the only pain free one he would experience, he shortly realized.</p>
<p>Remember, while Drunk Buck made bad decisions frequently, Tipsy Buck could also mess up. Which he did. Because a tipsy Buck is a stupid Buck. And a stupid Buck does dumb stuff like this. With eat bite, his mouth burned. Swallowing was agony.</p>
<p>“Oh, my god,” Buck hissed, trying to get rid of the remaining pepper in his cheeks, frantically scanning for something to spit into.</p>
<p>“It’s fine,” Eddie was trying to power through it, hands clenched tight on the table. “We can do this, Buck.”</p>
<p>“This isn’t food,” Chimney had swallowed his, how Buck didn’t know, and was now fanning his open mouth with his hand. “People eat these? Are they sadists?”</p>
<p>By the time Buck had managed to choke down the whole pepper, his mouth was on fire, and tears were steadily making his way down his face. Eddie was standing now, hands bracing on the back of the chair, feet moving so that his body rocked back and forth. Chimney was hunched over the table, forehead resting on the edge, and was audibly panting.</p>
<p>“I can’t feel my tongue,” Buck winced as he swallowed down some saliva. It burned as it went down his throat. “Do I even have a tongue anymore?” Buck stuck it out, eyes moving down to see it, and it was definitely still there. The tissue was red and it air seemed to help cool it down for a few seconds, before the heat returned with a vengeance, and Buck whimpered.</p>
<p>“This is fine,” Eddie was chanting. Buck jumped when Eddie’s hands were soon resting on his shoulders, fingers rubbing in circles over his shirt.</p>
<p>“My mouth is ruined,” Chimney’s face was sweaty and Buck nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>Anything spicy would have to be avoided for the time being. That thought quickly was proven wrong for two reasons; the first, most of their meals at home had the spice already mixed it, and second, they were going to Abuela’s house for dinner tomorrow night. Where there would be spice. And Buck could not tell Abuela to not add it, it was wrong, and Buck was not about to bring down the wrath of Abuela. Who would pelt him and Eddie with questions and berate them for being idiots.</p>
<p>The heat got worse. At one point, the three of them ended up curled up together on the floor. Eddie was trying to use Buck as a distraction, hands roaming over his shoulders, tangling in his hair, and kissing him once only to find out that doing so was a bad idea right now. Chimney was on Eddie’s other side, occasionally poking him for something to do while the pain faded, which caused Eddie to retaliate, because his boyfriend couldn’t let the teasing go unignored.</p>
<p>Maddie was laughing the whole time, phone held in one hand, the other holding a glass of milk. She had fetched it a while back, thinking it would be so nice to tempt them with salvation, knowing full well that none of them would take it. They all couldn’t back down from this. Buck had been hiccupping for the last six minutes and he froze as one hiccup made his stomach turn. Screw it. Hoisting himself off the floor, causing Eddie to full out whine and Chimney to throw a hand out to stop him, Buck stood.</p>
<p>Swiping the milk from Maddie’s hand, Buck took four large gulps, nearly draining the glass. It cut through some of the heat, and helped settle his stomach, thought Buck knew he’d feel it at some point.</p>
<p>“You left me alone in this?” Eddie was pouting, hair a bit of a mess from being on the floor, and Chimney looked on in agreement.</p>
<p>“Sure did,” Buck said, hiccupping again before tipping the glass back to drink the last of the milk.</p>
<p>Chimney broke next, going for the ice cream in the back of the freezer, carving out a large spoonful and placing it directly on his tongue. The sounds he was making were uncomfortable, but Buck wasn’t about to tell him to stop; the pain from the pepper was awful, and letting a man sooth his damaged tongue was something best kept between the man and whatever dairy product he chose. Eddie was triumphant, taking the money Maddie handed him, before stealing some of the ice cream. Was winning worth it thought? At the price that they had all paid?</p>
<p>Returning home in the Uber was fine, Buck no longer hiccupping, only feeling the after effects of the pepper. Eddie, now feeling the effects of the alcohol, was leaning against him in the backseat, half asleep. That night was not peaceful. The following morning wasn’t either, as both he and Eddie silently sipped their coffee, which had been cooled down considerably to avoid placing any more strain on their scorned tongues. Their stomachs ached and the idea of food was off-putting. </p>
<p>When they got into work, Chimney didn’t look any better.</p>
<p>“We are never doing that again,” Chimney made them both promise, even taking Buck to the level of pinky promising, so you knew it was serious. Hen was looking at them with a calculating eye, even Bobby looked suspicious, not that any of them opened their mouths.</p>
<p>“Lunch is done!” Bobby called out and gestured to the plates. Which held Pad Thai. “Chim, yours is the one to the left, no spice. Eddie and Buck, here is yours, I added a kick to it, just how you like it.” Bobby was smiling, not aware of the idiocy his firefighters had gotten up to last night, and Buck couldn't say no even if he wanted to. Which he desperately did. So, Buck said thank you, took his plate, and quietly ate it, suffering through each mouthful.</p>
<p>He never had to hold back tears to avoid crying over a plate of noodles, but he did now, as did Eddie. All the while Chimney happily ate his own, spice free, lunch at the other side of the table, face light and happy, not feeling an ounce of sympathy for his male friends across from him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was a lot of fun to write and is based loosely on the Good Mythical Morning episode featuring the Carolina Reaper. So, leave a kudos or a comment if you wish :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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